Social benefits of Formula One

Hi There,

Let me introduce myself. My name is Alex and I have been a fan of Formula One for around 15 years now (Im 21y/o), and also used to follow WRC, however since the sad death of Richard Burns I havent really followed the sport. I am also a University Student, studying events management, and I am in my fourth and final year.

Now for an assignment at University I am working in a group to develop a sales pitch. Our brief is to propose an event for Birmingham City Council to take on and rejuvinate the city and raise its profile back to being the second city in the UK. (This is a fictional sales pitch, but we still need to gather the evidence to support our claims)

My colleagues and I have decided looking at what events are in the UK, what events are currently all over the place and what events used to take place in Birmingham and see what we could put together. This is where the autosport forum and its viewers come in handy.

Some of you may be familiar with the Superprix of the 1980s, well my colleagues and I have looked into this and gathered some research and have found that not only was this popular, but also the track outline is still in place (including the start and finish lines). Further research showed that F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone has also been conducting some research with the potential of F1 going here. So we want to propose this event.

Now really the event isnt the important bit of this post, the important bit, is your thoughts on our two questions below... and hopefully as motorsport fans you can help:

What social benefits do you see / get from F1?

Are there any social effects / constraints you get from F1?

Any answers would be of great benefit and would help to understand from a international point of view. I am just 1 fan, so I cant speak for the masses, but I know that on average there are 55million people who watch each race LIVE on tv, not to mention the hundreds of thousands who attend the venues, or even their local pub to watch it.

Your imput is greatly appreciated.



Kind Regards

Alex

Does it have to be F1 or can it just be motorsport? With F1 the two immediate problems that will kill an F1 race and your project are the incredible sanction fee costs and the (in)ability to devise a circuit layout safe enough for contemporary Grand Prix racing.

we are presenting F1, but it could be anything, the benefits that we have by using F1 is the amount of groundwork to support our claims by the FIA. But generally the social questions are open to all motorsport fans.

Thanks

Alex

There have been several threads on the Superprix on TNF.

A member called "bigears" has done a lot of research on the subject.

There's a book due out imminently on the Birmingham superprix.

What social benefits do you see / get from F1?

None unless you have one of Bernie's VIP passes, but if you have one of those, your not interested in motor racing anyway!

I get negative social affects, as I wake up at 7am to watch the races and then end up sleeping half the day away.

Impossible to say. It depends specially on what country do you want to know about.

I live in a messed-up third world country, Brazil. Motorsport here only enriches some little powerful groups and most of the people involved to that don't earn a single coin. On the other hand, Formula One brings a lot of tourists to São Paulo (our biggest city), creates employments, raises money to the municipal cash and improves Brazil's image out there.

We don't see often poor children climbing the social ladder by racing, apart for excepcional cases such as Raikkonen. This kind of "social concern" is more common on other less expensive sports like soccer, baseball and basketball.

As for the cities, we see cities and regions that had a huge improvement on holding motorsport races (Magny-Cours), others that even depend on motorsport activities (Le Mans). The same way, a region can face other negative outcomes (noise in Spa, environmental problems in Hockenheim). There are many good and bad stories.

The only thing I can say: if motorsport is practised with responsibility, not damaging anything and bringing some attention and money from outside, it can be considered something positive. That's it.

The problem I see is: Birmingham in - Donington/Silverstone out. Much money wasted for nothing and being member in the nostalgia forum I prefer the circuit with the more tradition.

It would be a different thing to introduce non-chaampionship races again, but that is only dreaming...

A member called "bigears" has done a lot of research on the subject.

There's a book due out imminently on the Birmingham superprix.

The book has been written by David Page ('bigears').

The TNF thread he started on the Superprix is here:

http://forums.autosp...howtopic=86796

Social benefits of F1? Hmmm, let me see...

Entertainment: Provides pure and simple (and vicarious) thrills for guys such as me, who'll never even get to sit in an F1 car. Shows the benefits of human competition.
Economic: Boosts local and national economy where cars are built (provides high-paying jobs, taxes, profits); benefits race-locale economy (food, hotels, travel, entertainment, porta-potties); benefits media who cover it, too.
Technological: Not so much these days, but it did help to bring us better tires, disc brakes, fuel-injection, etc.
Automotive Safety: Has enhanced race safety for itself and other series (driver suits, track design, car structure, etc.).
Inspiring: Some kids still get excited about F1 racing and want to become engineers, drivers, photographers, etc.

Social effects/constraints:

Economic: Why are those third-world nations spending billions on tracks and races when their people have so many more pressing needs?
Environmental/Energy Consumption: Not so much the race cars, but think of all the transport, spectator travel, etc. Of course, if they weren't at the track, they'd be polluting and consuming energy doing something else.
Cost in Time & Skills: If all those clever F1 designers and fabricators (not to mention the rule-makers and administrators) applied their time, skills, and energies elsewhere, they could accomplish a lot.
General Aggravation: Recent serious public fusses over rule-breaking, etc.

Frank

Hi There,

Let me introduce myself. My name is Alex and I have been a fan of Formula One for around 15 years now (Im 21y/o), and also used to follow WRC, however since the sad death of Richard Burns I havent really followed the sport. I am also a University Student, studying events management, and I am in my fourth and final year.

Now for an assignment at University I am working in a group to develop a sales pitch. Our brief is to propose an event for Birmingham City Council to take on and rejuvinate the city and raise its profile back to being the second city in the UK. (This is a fictional sales pitch, but we still need to gather the evidence to support our claims)

My colleagues and I have decided looking at what events are in the UK, what events are currently all over the place and what events used to take place in Birmingham and see what we could put together. This is where the autosport forum and its viewers come in handy.

Some of you may be familiar with the Superprix of the 1980s, well my colleagues and I have looked into this and gathered some research and have found that not only was this popular, but also the track outline is still in place (including the start and finish lines). Further research showed that F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone has also been conducting some research with the potential of F1 going here. So we want to propose this event.

Now really the event isnt the important bit of this post, the important bit, is your thoughts on our two questions below... and hopefully as motorsport fans you can help:

What social benefits do you see / get from F1?

Are there any social effects / constraints you get from F1?

Any answers would be of great benefit and would help to understand from a international point of view. I am just 1 fan, so I cant speak for the masses, but I know that on average there are 55million people who watch each race LIVE on tv, not to mention the hundreds of thousands who attend the venues, or even their local pub to watch it.

Your imput is greatly appreciated.



Kind Regards

Alex

You might pick up some info from this rather scholarly article Alex. Not specifically F1 oriented, more a general view about sporting events.

http://www.gamesmoni...org.uk/node/333

On a less serious note, there may be some youngsters who attend or watch on TV who in later years will be afflicted by TNFitis. This in some way could be perceived as being a positive social effect in the long term, as they will visit the track to identify buildings, bits of tarmac, remains of advertising hoardings etc. Fifty years later, long after the racing has left Birmingham for Burma or Vietnam, the economic effects of these visitors will still be felt. It may only be a couple of pints and a curry somewhere and a cheap B&B, but it will happen.

Rob

Edited by Kingsleyrob, 13 October 2009 - 19:47.

Looking at your brief, the question is really "What social benefits would a race bring to Birmingham?". I think they are:
(1) The money that visitors, teams and support staff as well as spectators, will spend in the city on accommodation etc
(2) The world-wide high profile that Birmingham will enjoy - similar to Valencia

There are generic benefits, such as
(1) The boosts to technology - the old "Racing improves the breed" maxim. But I find it hard to think of examples - disc brakes (but that was 50 years ago!), electronic engine management systems that improve engine efficiency, ie greater speed or lower fuel consumption for the same speed, and that's about it, and effective vehicle barriers.
(2) The motor racing industry which is centred in Britain. There was a book that worked out how many are employed and the revenue they generate.
(3) The training it gives our young engineers. Honda have gone on record as saying that the timescale that racing development has to work at taught its engineers to think on their feet and to trust their own judgement to meet the timescale. Look at the number of senior decision makers in the Honda company with a racing background.

And that's all I can come up with.

Better than a joint municipal-funded stadium to be shared by Villa and City. It may work in Milan and elsewhere on the Continent but it has never worked in Britain.

Edited by D-Type, 15 October 2009 - 10:02.

The main social benefit I can see is that a small elderly English bloke has got very rich keeping him off of the age pension!!
Really though there is none, these days governments bleat tourism etc as they stage these events, but the costs outweigh the benefits and have done for years.
F1 really has outpriced itself, is so expensive, artificial and seemingly corrupt too. And boring, I dont think I have kept awake yet on the occasional race I have watched this year.
And the same goes for a lot of big time motorsport at both national and international levels.

Your two reference points (the data is out there, but you will have to go find it) are:
- The Barcelona Olympics
- The Melbourne Grand Prix
Pre-Olympics, Barcelona was a no-nothing city - pretty, but unknown on the tourist trail. Post-Olympics (and specifically that iconic "diving board over the city" image) it joined the premier elite of European cities to visit: London, Rome, Paris, later Prague, etc. The net result was billions in tourist income, boosting the local economy and in turn drawing in new industries, the latter extending the effect in both time and value.

The Melbourne Grand Prix organisation regularly produces a report identifying the economic benefits of hosting the event. As already mentioned, the event is very expensive and loses money on basic operating company accounts. However the local government takes a more enlightened view than the Birmingham leaders of the '80s (specifically Claire Short). I believe the analysis is based on a simple value of income from tourists/visitors, rather than the additional effect of new businesses (as we saw at Barcelona). I would also suggest that outside of Australia, Melbourne is now regarded as the second city after Sydney (rightly or wrongly, I don't know) and this could be attributed almost entirely to the exposure of the race.

The main social benefit I can see is that a small elderly English bloke has got very rich keeping him off of the age pension!!

No, he'll be claiming all that, as well as getting the annual heating allowance, eyesight tests, free prescriptions etc, he might even have a bus pass.

I would like to thank everyone for their comments so far. We have started looking at the links suggested and have taken all of the comments above with great interest.

Thank-you.

Regards

Alex

The history of Long Beach may be another source for you. If I recall, Long Beach was a somewhat run-down community until the Grand Prix (and then CART) came in. I've seen first-hand how a community or neighborhood can improve or decline based on how much money is in their economy.

(On the other hand, there's Detroit)...

No, he'll be claiming all that, as well as getting the annual heating allowance, eyesight tests, free prescriptions etc, he might even have a bus pass.

I dont think he'd even recognise a bus if he saw one from the back of his chauffeured limo .

The history of Long Beach may be another source for you. If I recall, Long Beach was a somewhat run-down community until the Grand Prix (and then CART) came in. I've seen first-hand how a community or neighborhood can improve or decline based on how much money is in their economy.

(On the other hand, there's Detroit)...

Nowadays it really depends how hard Bernie's hand is squeezing the economy. He managed to squeeze the Melbourne one hard enough this year that it made a $1.6 million loss even with $40 mil government money invested. That'll run a community down pretty damn quick.

Another benefit from racing in general is the boost it gives the sponsors in-house. If a company has a race team, it's something for the employees to discuss over the water cooler and get to know each other in the process. It builds camaraderie, and it can be used as a tool to increase productivity, i.e. race tickets as bonuses. And, if the team does well, wins a championship...let's say, it is a huge morale booster.

When I worked for Domino's Pizza in 1983, everybody I delivered to commented on how well Howdy Holmes did in the Indy 500 that year, and he didn't even get a top 5. I posted a schedule on our bulletin board and listed the winners of each race along with the Championship standings, and we all congregated around it. We anxiously listened to the race and qualifying broadcasts on the radio, and a lot of the excitement we felt spilled over into our work.

When I worked for Frito-Lay later, during the NASCAR boom in the late '90's, every time we introduced a new product, I urged the powers that be to consider racing as a promotion tool. They finally got the hint with Jeff Gordon.



Dan

Not a direct contribution to this thread - for which the following will be of no use at all - but as a somewhat related aside, we were speaking recently with a mid-grid Grand Prix driver of mid-1950s experience, and asked him about what motivated young men like him to take such risks in this then highly dangerous activity. He thought for a moment about all the attractive benefits of major-league motor racing, and then explained his generation's interest in it like this:

"Ahmmm - I think the truth of the matter was that they were all sex maniacs..."

DCN

Thought I would chip in this thread.

Are you actually proposing to the council or is it simply just part of an uni project?

If it is a real proposal then it will be tricky especially with the economic climate and the social effects of staging a F1 events in the streets of Birmingham involving businesses and people living around the area.

It can be easy to race around the old circuit as many people may think but it won't be easy as the council have done a lot of work improving the roads around Belgrave Middleway.

During the Superprix, it did improve one part of the area of the circuit.

The area is where the houses was, at the front of the television cameras, not the houses/properities that are in the view of the cameras!

If you want to know more details from me about the BSP, post them here or send me a Private Message and I will be happy to help.

(2) The world-wide high profile that Birmingham will enjoy - similar to Valencia

Valencia is an interesting example. The city already had a dedicated circuit with reasonable access. The MotoGP and F1 circuses put on a good event, although the environment is a bit sterile. So the regional council created a sterile street circuit for F1 and the bikes stay at the old place... Like Singapore, Valencia has enough great architecture to create a visually stunning street circuit, but in Valencia they built it around an industrial area.

Somebody mentioned that old codgers return to old circuits on their holidays. I'm guilty of walking the old Montjuich circuit more than once. It's quiet enough so that you can stand in the middle of the road to take your photos and get a feel for the place. If you are going to try it for yourself, note that there is a police station adjacent to one of the corners so some discretion is required when taking pictures there.